


Alchemic Bonds

by shivangoes



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: After Ultron Before Civil War, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Irondad, M/M, Magic!Peter, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, spiderson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-08-14 07:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20188882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shivangoes/pseuds/shivangoes
Summary: AU/Canon Divergence. Tony Stark is in a dark place, the public wants him dead, his friends and family have abandoned him and Pepper has declared she wants nothing to do with him. He wants to end it all but just as he is about to, he sees a strange golden light with the corner of his eye…..





	1. Rust

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Marvel or any of its content or IP. This is not for profit.

Tony Stark was having a very bad day, not that that was an unusual occurrence. Even before Ultron he had been on a downward spiral. If Tony was truthful to himself he had been on a downward spiral for decades now. But coming back to the present this downward spiral was special (in a bad way) now that the dust had settled the team had kicked him out for all purposes, they were moving out to a compound upstate and he was NOT invited to join or visit them without permission. Fury and the rest of SHIELD had also ended his security clearances and while he could just hack in it still stung. That would have been bearable but Rhodey, his platypus had joined them. After a good two hour screaming match(well Rhodey screamed tony was just trying to defend and explain himself) Rhodey had ended their friendship which had endured since that first week of MIT. But worst had been Pepper, not only did she make it clear their friendship and/or relationship was over. She had even pulled the CEO card and forbidden him from entering the stark offices in the tower, putting him on leave. Even Happy had left putting in his resignation/transfer request.

And so here he was, The Tony Stark Superhero Billionaire and Philanthropist, drunk and sitting on the side of a surprisingly deserted bridge somewhere in NYC wondering if it was time to just give up. After all he was tired and honestly, he could not tell himself what he had to live for when just as he began shifting slowly to the edge he caught a strange golden light at the corner of his eye. Wondering if he would die in a battle or fight after all tony turned his head to an unexpected sight. There where the light was, in the middle of the bridge during a rather cold night was a brown-haired kid looking no older than 13, frozen and staring at him in a strange mix of shock, wonder and a tiny hint of fear, in what appeared to be his pajamas.

“Mr. Stark?” He asked nervously, and yup definitely a preteen. “How about you…um…. give me an autograph” phrasing it more like a question.

“Sure Kiddo” Tony replies, swatting away any concern that a kid was here in the middle of the night. Too tired to care.

“Maybe you could come of the ledge then” again the kid sounded like he was asking a question. Now that tony thought about it he was too close to the edge, the kid had probably guessed what he was planning and was concerned. Well at least he’ll always have the pre teen fans tony snarked internally.

Sighing Tony swatted at the kid “Go Home, your Parents will be worried”. Catching what possibly was a brief smirk though that could be the absinthe the kid just stood there.

“Why are you doing this mister stark?” He asked, and yup the kid definitely guessed what tony was about to do. “Cause I'll never be happy again, happy?” Tony said harshly which was rude but sue him, after all no court summons would work on him in a very short time with him being dead and all.

“Okay, but how do you know that?” The Kid asked, probably calmer now that tony was facing him and away from the edge. “Cause I just DO” Tony calmly replied or possibly shouted. “what if you could be happy again” the kid said, eyes lighting up as if he had an idea.

“well I won’t okay”

“But if you could”

“I Know I won't”

“Even in an year”

“Yes” tony replied lightly massaging his forehead.

“I can help” the kid replied earnestly. His naivety would be endearing if it wasn’t so annoying

“No you can't kid, beside you shouldn’t have to worry about me” After all no one does though he kept that particular thought silent.

“yes I do” The kid replied “Your actions years ago are the reason I’m alive today”

“Well great! Repay me by fucking off” Tony said getting tired of this bullshit.

“How about this mister stark” The kid said as if he had not heard tony at all “if I can make you happy in a year you promise never to ….. you know..” Gesturing to the river beyond the edge of the bridge.

“Sure Kid” Tony replied wondering how to get rid of the brat and if it would be simpler to just leave.

“Great” the kid chirped and suddenly his hands were glowing with the same strange golden light tony had seen before. That was the last thing tony saw before he was knocked out.

* * *

As tony woke up, the first thing he noticed was that he was hungover. Which was not that strange. Looking around he saw he was that he was in his own room in Ave-Stark Tower. As he got up last nights memory slammed back into his head, the fighting and drinking and aftermath, ending the brief respite brought by ignorance. Wondering what the kid did and what that light was tony almost called on Jarvis to do a health check before remembering that Jarvis was no longer there.Now that tony was awake he could see that the room had been completely cleaned. Which was strange as the cleaning service was no longer available due to peppers pettiness. Maybe they did it one last time? tony wondered. Walking to the common area he saw that it too had been completely cleaned, and the bar was.. empty completely empty.. as if it was brand new. All his booze was gone. It was only then that he noticed what was going on in the kitchen area. The Kid from last night was there and his hand had gold disks made of the strange light(or energy) on his palms. Looking over tony was shocked out of the last vestiges of sleep as what could only be described as culinary fantasia playing out in the kitchen as bowls pans knives and ingredients flew around making breakfast?

"Mr. Stark" The kid greeted him with a bright smile, he really should learn his name, and ask how he got into his tower, and what the light was, point being that this kid had some questions to answer.

"Kid" tony replied calmly, as he was directed towards the table where a breakfast feast for lack of a better term was being laid out. "what is this and more importantly who the fuck are you?!"

"Oh Right" the kid said doing an excellent impression of a guilty puppy. "My name is Peter Parker, what you see is the Mystic Arts, and we met yesterday on the bridge"

"okay" tony said, deciding to deal with the whole mag.. strange energy bit later and deal now with this uninvited guest. "what are you doing here"

"I'm here cause i promised remember? That I'll help you become happy within the year" Tony did remember but he never expected this. As he opened his mouth he was interrupted. "And i told you before mister stark, you are the reason I'm alive today so i thought I'll help you get better" Tony sighed, delaying the questions as his stomach grumbled. The food did smell good, "don't think I'm satisfied with that explanation kiddo" tony said as he dug in. deciding to eat before continuing on after all it was likely going to be a long day.

* * *

Over the day Tony got to know more about the Kid-Peter. He war older than he looked, lived with his Maternal uncle Ben in Queens, he was apparently quite good with science, winning multiple awards and competitions despite his party tricks and he was impossible to get rid of hounding tony like an overexcited puppy to eat and relax. In the end, after solving a series of engineering challenges even some college educated employees would be hard pressed to decipher tony gave the kid an offer to his private Intern. And he also agreed to let the kid "help" him become happy again. Tony still doesn't know why he agreed or did those things or maybe he does but can't acknowledge it.

* * *

It does not take long for tony to regret the decision of listening to the kid and not jumping of the bridge when he had the chance. Apparently the kid has another 4 months before middle school begins so for the past three days he has had to put up with peter and the new bane on his life the "Schedule" and yes the quotes are necessary. It involves specially calculated sleeping hours and now sleep is not simply crashing but comes with its own preparation and beauty routine, peter was not afraid of using his powers to put tony to sleep for the allotted time. Regular meals which comprised of healthy home cooked food with a ban on takeout, a ban on working on the iron man suits(tony nearly Parker out when he first heard this before realizing that no one wanted iron man anymore) and worst of all meditation and yoga. At times tony wondered why he put up with all this and realized Peter must have put a spell on him(and not because he was lonely and he liked how peter cared for him, and how passionate and earnest he was, and that he liked science-ing with a kid whose intelligence was like his own and who looked up to him with no judgement in his eyes) yup, cause of a spell.

Soon they fell into a pattern, wake up. Peter portals in and magics them some breakfast, yoga and meditation is followed by lab time, lunch, more lab time and other work and movie and then dinner. It was only after 6 days since they met, on a Sunday that this pattern was broken when peter declared he would spend the day with his uncle. And it was then that Tony realized that over the past week he had come to care for the magic wielding ,science award winning overgrown puppy of a kid.

Fuck.


	2. Roman Holidays

Life over the past two months had been akin to a never ending roller coaster for Tony stark but you know the good kind rather than the shitty one before. And the reason for that was one Peter Parker, who had somehow(Tony’s pestering had led nowhere) magicked(he lost that battle as well) himself into Tony’s life exactly when he had needed him. Peter had become his one and only friend and frankly his only human interaction. And yes while the kid was annoying Tony owed him big time, not only for THAT night but also for his impossible gift. Somehow the kid had restored the servers which had been fried by Ultron, he had a strange green colored artifact which apparently was very precious because three members of the “Mystic Order” who looked like monks from a yoga class brochure were with him guarding it, restoring the servers to 3 hours before tony began working on the scepter which meant his old friend JARVIS, who he had thought lost forever was back, though missing some memory.

After crushing peter halfway to death in thanks and making three separate physical backups(just in case) Tony had set catching JARVIS up to all that had been going on. This had also meant that FRIDAY was no longer his primary assistant which the Irish AI was rather upset about but tony had assigned her to look into Peter and his background, because while he had slowly come to trust peter there were just too many things he was hiding for tony to be comfortable about.

However for now though tony was on a healing path and if any human other than peter got to see him they could probably tell. The eye bags which were as ever present as his sunglasses were gone. His skin was lacking its sickly sun deprived glow and now he looked better, freed from the relentless stress of iron man, of worrying about pepper he had been able to relax more be calmer and walk more freely. He and peter had been working on multiple projects together from the new line of cell tower equipment(SI was diversifying to all areas of tech) to new projects suggested by peter. The main was a set of High-Tech prosthetic's, using Tony’s engineering skills and peter’s squishy biology knowledge they were able to create a prototype of an artificial nerve and limb, by linking it to a headband with new sensors they hoped to allow people to control the prosthetic the way they would with a normal limb. While progress was good they had yet to actually test it but that was still a while off.

The rest of Tony’s day was still busy, while he was spending most of it with peter who came for breakfast and left after dinner, he also worked on his own projects including the new starkphone. Apparently his leave had been cancelled once Pepper realised that SI depended upon tony for basically all its tech if only because the board wants tony to look over and improve each project. But even otherwise Tony was a genius a fact that people often overlooked. As such he had single handedly designed the newest starkphone and its software though it would be adjusted by his team to make it more consumer friendly or as tony called it dumbing it down for the masses.

It was also because of the new starkphone and related tech that people other than himself had found out about peter’s existence, Petey boy had wondered to the main laptop lab one day to tell the team of a solution he had to a problem that was plaguing them, forgetting in his excitement(He had just created a new more efficient type of battery) that people did not know who he was. The incident had luckily not led to many problems as the NDA’s in their contracts had meant that tony had been able to keep peter’s existence a secret, at least from the outside world even though, according to JARVIS, more and more people at SI were slowly finding out about “Tony’s Baby Prodigy” peter had scowled for days on end hearing that nickname. 

Life for tony was getting better, little by little, each day his shoulders had a little less weight and each time he slept he would dread the coming day less. Currently tony was planning a two week trip to Europe just him and Pete. It had taken a lot of effort to organise the trip, not just the actual logistics bit cause he wanted to make sure they were not interrupted by paparazzi( who were the same type of vultures the world over) but also because Ben Parker had put his foot down. Apparently the man thought that peter was already spending too much time with tony(which was true) but tony had succeeded in the end, or rather peter’s puppy dog eyes had cause they were a type of magic no one was immune to.

So now tony and peter were going to see London, Paris, Amsterdam and Rome. Tony was rather excited for the trip, it would be really the first time he would be doing any of the touristy stuff in Europe(No waiting in lines for The Tony Stark though) rather than simply selling weapons or getting drunk in exotic bars.

* * *

It was a warm night in Rome as tony stark soaked in his hotel tub. His Trip had been an absolute success, Tony could not remember he had so much fun outside a party. It was a delight exploring Europe with the kid especially as since tony got them into all the normal tourist attractions with minimum waiting and express service(Money speeds everything) they had the time to explore not only more niche sites such as particular universities and engineering note collections, but peter also made sure to visit a branch/meeting place of the mystic order in each city, and while tony did not understand anything that was being discussed peter was fascinated with the collections which was more than enough for tony. Also now that peter “knew” where they were he could open portals to them easily making future European day trips an almost certain. 

As he relaxed in the tub Tony’s ,mind because it hated him with a passion, moved to two much less pleasant topics first was that pressure from the media was constantly on the rise. Especially since tony had retired from both the public spotlight as well as the avengers initiative public opinion had steadily been growing Anti-Iron man, while in normal times SHIELD and Pepper would have begun a media campaign to combat this, neither had lifted a finger. In fact JARVIS, who had hacked into their security systems and been analyzing conversations, said that both had hoped that the pressure would humble him and make him more pliable(Though pepper’s beliefs were more intuitive than shield which was actively hoping for tony to break down)

Maybe in another universe he would have broken down, maybe he would have given into pressure and gotten on his knees and begged his friends, who are increasingly being referred in his minds with air quotes, to take him back. But now tony had an excited puppy, one who after every negative story would bring him an article refuting it, straight up writing his own papers where he logically took down the argument and told tony why he was good. And while tony had not completely begun to believe the articles and the signs of adoration from his fan base they still gave him a sort of hope to continue on. Tony as long as he had peter believing in him would survive, maybe one day the faith of this one magic wielding puppy would not be enough, but for now it is.

Unfortunately his first problem was intimately mixed with his second, peter would be going back to his final year of middle school. While the kid certainly had the brains to attend MIT even now Ben had apparently wanted peter to be with kids his own age(which tony appreciated) and did not want tony to convince peter to take a leave and work as a full time intern for the next year(which while tony saw the logic off could not help but to sulk over). Tony thus was absolutely worried that after 6 weeks his still fragile support base would be kicked away. Wow if either his father or hell even himself from a few years ago saw him they would be disgusted with how weak and vulnerable he was but the tony of the present did not care, he was used to his puppy. Hmmm…

* * *

“Mr. Stark” Peter called as he heard the door open, Tony had been on the phone when he had woken up, whispering to the other person. And had left rather early, wondering what was going on peter walked to the Hotel room’s (More like Apartment, he really did not want to know the nightly rates to this place) entrance he short circuited cause there was Mr. Stark holding a puppy?

“Kiddo” tony greeted “Meet Sonny”

Peter after giving out a manly shout of pleasure and totally not a squeal nearly tackled Mr. Stark in surprise and joy

“You have a puppy now Mr. stark?” Peter asked voice filled with joy and fuck if that did not make tony feel good. “Sure do kiddo” Tony replied

“I remember you said you wanted a dog but Ben was allergic so I thought this little fellow could stay with m-” “YES!!” Shouted Peter interrupting tony, his voice waking the puppy who took in his new surroundings

“Where did you find him?” Peter asked, wondering if this was pre-planned or not, it was hard to tell with Mr. Stark

“Animal control offers easy adoption for those who would otherwise be terminated soon” Tony said, immediately cursing himself as peter became gloomy in an instant

“Terminated?” Peter asked all the joy gone now.

“Well, um there is not enough money in most city budgets you now” Tony said in what he hoped was a consoling manner. At this moment it was clear that or all his magic and intelligence Peter was still a kid, sheltered from the realities of the world. Tony wanted nothing more than to lock peter away in the tower right now but squashed that Disney Evil Stepmother-ish instinct.

“Mr. Stark?” Peter asked eyes on full puppy dog eye mode, emphasized by the eyes of the actual puppy he was now holding(Not fair at all Parker!). Well at least tony knew he was wrapped around peters little finger, and he had no problem with that at all.

* * *

Press Release

Tony Stark is proud to announce the formation of the Stark International Canine Foundation.


	3. Bleeding Wounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not posting for a while, i was on a vacation. Please Kudos and Like

Tony was having a good time, after his European trip he and peter had fallen back to a familiar schedule. They had begun working on more and more projects, both long term such as the Medbot as well as short term ones such as the toys they had designed for the dog tony had rescued in Rome who had been named Rus. In the meantime they had made enough progress on the prosthetic to begin human trials, which would take a while to set up especially as Tony was taking steps to make the trial leak proof. The last thing tony wanted was for peter to be shoved into the limelight before he was ready, the media would not hesitate before hounding his life and turning him into their new plaything.

But everything was not the same, apparently Ben Parker had been convinced to allow Tony to come for Parker Family Lunches each Sunday, he had also in turn begun visiting the tower more and more. Now, usually, the three of them had dinner together. To be honest Tony was thankful that ben had begun coming over, not only it made him feel less like he was stealing the man’s family but also because tony genuinely enjoyed the man’s company. He was smart, though not as smart as either of the other two, and witty. Not to mention he was an excellent listener. Besides it was nice to talk to another adult, not that tony did not talking to peter but honestly tony could not relate the kid most of the time when not discussing science. It made him feel old(Not that he would admit that) realising that his pop culture knowledge was rather out of date and his tastes old fashioned. Though (Un)luckily peter had made it his duty on teaching tony the ins and outs of Gen Z culture though most of it still made little to no sense to Tony.

* * *

“DUMMY! BE CAREFUL” Tony shouted, his voice much harsher than he had intended it to be. Dummy gave a shrill screech of guilt as Rus ,who was lying down on his lab pillow, whined. As tony sighed he bent a bit and began petting dummy, apologising to the robot. Tony was rather stressed at the moment, on edge and quite a bit angry. The Avengers been working on taking down a secretive organisation dealing with alien technology for a time now, and he knew this because today morning they had announced their victory and success to the public in a press conference. There were only a few details released and lots of PR spin but the public was happy. But tony on the other hand was mad, they had not bothered to inform him of the mission and that would be fine Tony had come to accept his banishment from the avengers but it turns out Pepper was apparently in the loop and had used SI resources, gone behind his back, to help them. Increasingly it felt like SI, HIS Company and HIS legacy was being taken from him. They even had the gall of refusing to acknowledge and thank him for all the weapons and tech he had designed for them despite thanking others who had aided them in a similar capacity.

Tony wondered if he was only now this friendless and lonely, or was just realising his total lack of support. Well tony amended, as a now familiar golden portal opened, not a Total Lack.

* * *

Peter was worried as he stepped into the Lab, he knew Tony would react badly to the Press conference the avengers had hosted this morning. His suspicions were confirmed when Mr. Stark tied to brush it off as unimportant even though it was easy to see that it was constantly on his mind. Sighing peter decided that part two of Operation Happy Stark would have to commence now. 

* * *

“Mr. Stark?” Peter asked nervously, petting Rus as a way to calm his rising nerves

“Yes Kiddo” Tony replied turning his attention to the boy. “Whats wrong?”

“You know that I promised that I’ll make sure you are happy within a year right?” Peter asked, not letting tony reply “Well, Mr. Stark you won’t be happy until you confront your past, and I think it’s time you did that”

“I know you mean well kid” Tony replied, his (very small) smile forced. “But I don’t need a therapist”

“You don’t need a normal, human therapist” Peter replied

Tony now understood why the kid might be nervous. Magic, which was what peter was referring to was not something tony liked to rely on and he definitely did not want it messing with his mind. Not to mention his past was best left buried dead. As tony opened his mouth to dismiss Peter’s suggestion he stopped, he had come to recognise the look when peter was at the peak of his stubbornness, it would take more than just a quick ‘No’ to make this go away.

The tension in the room began to rise as Tony and Peter engaged in a silent standoff. Neither willing to back down, finally tony realising he has nothing to lose from trying and everything to lose from getting into a prolonged fight with peter decides to throw in the towel. He will actually agree to someone mess with his mind, really what has he become?

Next Day 

The ritual that peter is preparing will take at least a day, depending on the amount of baggage to be worked through, he tells tony that the longest on record has been a week apparently. Tony is pretty sure he’ll be breaking that record.

“So” Tony asks as he eats a large breakfast “I step into the circle drink the potion and then what?”

“You go through a journey of your mind and soul” Peter replies sounding like one of those self-help, empowerment books bland suburban housewives read. “the point of the ritual to speak and accept the truth you are running from”

Staring straight into Tony’s eye “It won’t be pleasant but will help you come to terms with your past”

“Well, no time like the present” Tony replies, standing up.

* * *

Now that Tony is increasingly dizzy and trapped in what appears to be a vortex of smoke he realises that he really should have asked peter a lot more questions about the ritual.

As the smoke clears Tony finds himself in a white room, quite cliché if you asked him. Out of nowhere a person walks in. It takes tony a minute to realise it’s his First Semester Lab Partner from MIT, Amos or whatever, instead of making a snide remark of him being a nobody what comes out of Tony’s mouth was “I hated when you ignored me, it made me feel pretty stupid as I was not sure if I was doing things correctly”. As Tony’s eyes widened at the fact he actually revealed that little fact, Amos dissolved into thin air. Right, Tony thought, speak truth and come to terms with the past, he can do this, he is totally not going to kill peter after this. 

An unquantifiable time later 

Tony was exhausted, deeply bone drenched tired. He didn’t know how long this had been going on but it seemed like everyone he knew were appearing before him, his fellow scientist whom he admired but did not talk to because they were jealous of his intelligence, the kids who refused to be his friends, the suck-ups who he knew were talking shit about him behind his back, members of the paparazzi and media who refused to see him as a person rather than their next headline, even Aunt Peggy who had failed him again and again as he grew up. Every encounter it seemed was longer and more draining, seemingly building up to the biggest ghosts of his past, he knew who he would be confronting soon and most importantly in the end, Howard. But it seemed before coming face to face with dear old dad it would be Agent and Hill first.

Tony was nearing the end, he had just gone through SHIELD and all its contacts from Hill to Fury to the nameless bureaucrats lining the government and spy agencies. The last ones were actually the worst as they were represented as a group of faceless shadows for lack of a better description, crowding him as he was overwhelmed to shout out his anger, distaste and his hurt at them. At least with the Other it was on or two at a time.

But perhaps he spoke too soon as his former team appeared together as one before him. It was tough, very tough to get through this one, despite all the confessing and coming to terms he had been doing it was still hard to talk(scream) about how disappointed he was in all of them, how he hated the fact that they could accept a Nazi cult supporter into their ranks but not him, how they promised him something deeper than just being acquaintances and that it hurt because he believed them, even though all his experience had told him not to.As it soon devolved into a more one on one complain session, tony wondered just how many more ghosts will he be meeting?

A lot more unquantifiable time later

Pepper, Rhodey and Happy were his family. And it thus made sense that they would take a lot of time to get through, he rather not even think about what he said to them. Tony wondered if out in the real world peter could see the tears he shed, wondered if peter knew all of this, all his vulnerabilities. For some reason the prospect was not as scary as it should be, it was absolutely terrifying but not as scary as it should be.

His talk with Howard was surprisingly short and to the point. Tony guessed that while Howard remained a big reason for his fucked up emotions his actions were the ones he had mostly concentrated upon and come to terms with before this.

As Howard dissolved tony breathe a sigh, well it should be over now. But unfortunately it was not to be, tony could sense that there should be someone after howard as unknown truth sprang up to his neck but no one appeared before him. A short while maybe a minute later tony was surprised to see his mom and Jarvis, Edwin Jarvis appear before him. And for the life of him tony could not comprehend why they were here, this was about confronting his past demons, not the only two who looked out for him when he was growing up.

The three of them stood there in silence before tony began to speak, the magic of the ritual forcing the truth out of him even if he himself had not known it. Tony spoke of his disappointment in the two, of how they were never enough, of how he never understood why they didn’t do more, why they didn’t confront Howard and stop him from inflicting the pain and wounds he did rather than just clean up in the aftermath. Asked them why they refused to stand up and protect him? Why they tried to distract him from the reality of his childhood rather than be honest and truthful with him, making him all the more confused and lost.

* * *

As tony woke up from the ritual, he realised that he was lying on his bed. His muscles were aching as though he had just run a marathon though it was unlikely he had moved an inch in quite some time. The clock on his bedside said it was Friday, 6 days after he had begun so he was not a record breaker after all. As tony got up and sat on his bed, all the memories and raw emotions slammed into him like barrage of Thor's hammers hitting him while he was without a suit. He really is going to kill peter after this, was his last thought before tony went to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any suggestions on how i should proceed?


	4. Clouds on the Horizon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay but RL has been quite chaotic

It had been a month since Tony had gone through with the “Journey” leading to one of the most emotionally draining and horrible experiences of his life(which was really saying something considering all the shit tony had been through). But as much as Tony had wanted to deny it, the whole experience had helped, not in making him feel better but rather because he was finally coming to terms with his past. His (metaphorical) wounds which were infected and still raw before were healing properly now.

Tony had spent a week recovering after the Journey, alone, having banned Peter from the tower, he had not been sure if he trusted Peter enough knowing he had the power to screw up Tony’s mind and emotions like that but before he could burrow himself into the very worst paranoid fantasies his mind came up with Tony received an invitation from Ben to visit his apartment to talk face to face.

After spending another day deciding whether he should go Tony accepted. Luckily Peter had not been there when Tony arrived, because that day Tony and Ben spent a lot of time discussing Tony and Peters relationship. It had taken Ben a while before he convinced Tony to not blame Peter despite the fact that he had not done an adequate job preparing and warning Tony about the experience, which had taken a rather big emotional toll on Tony despite the benefits.

Not to mention they both knew that Tony missed Peter as much as the kid missed Tony, despite the residual anger the superhero felt and that Tony was only delaying the inevitable. 

It took a while for Tony and Peter to get back to where they were with the science-ing and movie nights though but they did manage, however it was only for a brief period as Peter returned to school at the end of his summer break. 

* * *

Without Peter to occupy his day (he came after school on alternate days) Tony threw himself back into his projects. As he was no longer working on the Iron man suit and because stark industries was still in the planning/brainstorming phases for the next generation of consumer tech Tony had the ability to work on both more personal projects and also to concentrate on reforming SI.

After Stane’s betrayal of Tony had been revealed and Tony had plotted the new course for SI, he had wanted to ensure that the people who were running his company shared his ideals and would not betray him, before he had put pepper on the job but he wasn’t so sure about pep. Therefore Tony and Jarvis began working on list of trustworthy people to place in key positions of SI. 

Furthermore to ensure he would never have to find out what his company was up to from CNN, he also for once in his life actually took the time to read the SI internal reports and actually attended board and Manager meetings(well most of them) 

* * *

Tony was relaxing on the couch while Peter and Ben were using their magic to cook dinner. He was resting at the Parker apartment, away from all the paparazzi and Pepper back at Stark tower. He had unveiled the new prosthetics to the media and public today spending 6 hours going over their features while also demonstrating their functionality via veteran who had agreed to act as lab rats earlier, during the testing stage.

Needless to say the presentation had been a hit, with Jarvis telling him that the top 5 hashtags trending on twitter were related to the presentation while about 85% of the comments were positive or neutral which was a massive improvement from the previous reaction to any news related to him in the past few months.

Hopefully they would be able to begin shipping by next year, though Tony knew it was only the beginning, and that many hurdles would have to be dealt with before the public could truly realise the benefits of his invention.

* * *

A month later

“All coding appears correct Sirs, bringing her online” Jarvis spoke as beams of blue light began emanating from a large metal box in the middle of the room. “it is a success”

“Yes” Peter said, his hands in the air as he all but jumped in joy. He had been working on his own personal AI for a while now, trying to create one which would suit him in particular and now he had succeeded. As he noticed that the final data transfer beginning he took a break, wondering if he could shower in time for dinner.

Things had been going well for Peter, He had made a new friend Ned, who had transferred recently, they both had the same interests even if ned obsessed over the popular girls a bit too much for peters taste. He hoped that ned would join him at midtown next year, they both intended to apply.

Outside school he had evenly divided his time between Uncle Ben and Da- Mr. Stark, though honestly it was getting more difficult day by day. He wanted to reveal his secret to Mr. Stark but uncle Ben disagreed, saying he wasn’t ready and Peter really couldn’t argue the point, no matter how much he wanted to. Mr. Stark was still in recovery mode and still needed time to heal, unleashing what lay in that particular Pandora’s box would cause more problems. But despite knowing that Peter was still tempted.

Shaking his head as if trying to physically throw the thoughts out of his mind Peter begins to concentrate on other matters such as his mystical arts training.

* * *

Pepper Potts was living up to the scary part of her reputation at the moment. Her assistants had all but fled her office, probably praying to all the gods for her not to call them in such a state. After all the years of begging and cajoling Tony “I am Iron Man” Stark had finally decided to pay attention to the inner working of Stark Industries and decided to actually do all parts of his job, not just what he felt like. This should have been a cause for celebration if not for the fact HE WAS RUINING SI!. 

Every deal, every plan was apparently not good enough for him, Half the department heads had told her that Tony had wanted to remove them. Many of these were people hired by pepper so she knew that they were more than capable of doing their job. Pepper wished that Tony would just go back to the semi exile position he was in because that was preferable to This. Even the Prosthetics presentation had caused headaches for her, not because of a problem with the device of market itself. The word was clamoring to get its hand on the new tech and there was even talk of Tony and SI being nominated for a Nobel Prize(Again) but because Ton had refused to reveal more than the bare minimum. His collaborators identity was unknown and that was causing headaches left and right. Furthermore she had heard that Tony had hired an intern who he trusted with top secret tech and company secrets, meaning that this intern had access to information which he was not cleared for. The possibility of espionage and accusation of lax security standards were all but materializing before her eyes.

Pepper would by now have taken a spa break if not for the fact that she had very limited free time now, with her work for the Avengers Initiative. It was important work which made the world a better place, even if SHIELD’s inefficiency and myriad security clearances made her want to gouge out Fury’s Eye.

* * *

Tony and Peter were watching a new Netflix documentary on the politics of oil, well it was officially a documentary but seemed more like one of those conspiracy theory videos on YouTube, both Tony and Peter spent the whole film pointing out logical inconsistencies behind the picture the documentary makers were trying to portray. It was a compromise between Tony who wanted to relax and Peter who was supposed to be doing research for his Civics assignment. As the documentary wrapped up, Tony said “Never knew oil politics was That complex” “well” Peter replied “Its not like it can be made out of thin air right? Valuable resources means corruption, you should hear how much Mr Smith loves talking about all that”

As Peter gathered up his stuff and got ready to open a portal to his bedroom he noticed that Mr. Stark was frozen at his spot, before Peter could ask what was wrong Tony threw his arm around peters shoulder and told him “I have decided our next project”

* * *

16th October

Peter, Tony and Ben are relaxing at a secluded resort in the Bahamas which was officially being rented out by a Qatari prince. They would remain here for a week or so to escape the fallout of yesterday’s press conference.

15th October

There was no indication that this day would go down in history as a day everyone would remember, on the morning of the 15th . It was calm, with the most exciting news being a press conference called by Tony Stark. With everyone aware of the last press conference, the one where he unveiled his new prosthetics line, the news and the general public were eager to see what new miracle Stark would unleash now. They would not be disappointed.

That Morning Tony unveiled what would be one of his most important inventions, the Stark Carbon Synthesizer, which could separate air components and slice atoms with ease. In front on a panel staffed by scientists with more science accolades than most people had heard of(including three noble prizes), Tony demonstrated the Synthesizer collecting Co2 from air, slicing away the carbon and reacting it with a stream of hydrogen made from water to create gasoline. With oxygen as its only by-product. Explaining that he would power the whole process with improved, green, safer and larger arc reactor’s Tony promised to be able to produce oil from Co2 and water at a cost of 30 dollars a barrel, here in the US ending the need to import oil, and preventing the addition of countless tonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere as the Co2 already present would henceforth be recycled. As the stunned press finally snapped out of its shock they all but blinded Tony with the camera flashes, while shouting so many questions it all melded together in a single roar demanding answers.

Tony realising he could not get the crowd under control handed the presentation over to the scientist who would explain the process in a bit more detail (as much as their non-disclosure contracts would allow) and would assure the press that this was no hoax.

In the meanwhile Tony walked(ran) backstage where he jumped into the portal Peter had opened, getting away from both the press and SI while they were still in their hysterical phase. He would return once things calmed down

So as the world adjusted to the news and pundits, environmental activists , politicians and military analysts tried to predict how their new world would look, Tony spent the time relaxing, ignoring any and all attempts to contact him.

* * *

Avengers Compound Meeting Room

“I Trust you have all seen the news recently” Nick Fury asked the Avengers. Without even waiting for their reply he continued “I hope you all realise just how little we know what Stark's up to for this to take us by surprise, well not more. You are to swallow your pride and admit him back to the team. Beyond the technological benefits the PR and goodwill itself will be worth it” Brushing away their protests Fury repeats his instructions before leaving the room.

“So” Captain America asks “Any Ideas?”

“I have some” Black Widow replies.


End file.
